Sarah Jane's Children 1938 :
by Mystic Lover of the fairytale
Summary: Sarah Jane and her family try to cope through the second world war,
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sarah Jane Adventures or any of its characters. I only own my OCs Emily, Mark, and Michael, and the plot. Everything else belongs to CBBC & Russell T. Davies.**

 _ **Beated by GleeJunkie007.**_

England 1938

Emily Smith waited by the gates of _St. Mary's_ watching the children pour out of the school. They ran and shouted with childish glee, happy to be free from school for another day. Two children broke away from the horde of children running towards her.

"Emily!" Her ten year old brother Luke was running towards her with his best friend, Maria, behind him, pigtails flying.

"Guess what!?" Luke bounced up and down barely unable to contain his excitement.

"What?" Emily asked calmly.

Luke held up a gold medal on a blue ribbon. "I won it."

Maria spoke up. "We had a spelling bee in class and he was the only one left."

"That's good, Luke." Emily smiled at her little brother. It had been barely four months since their mother, Sarah Jane, had adopted Luke from the orphanage where she had been doing a story.

Emily snuck a glance at the two younger children as they chatted about everything and nothing. They passed the local sweet shop and they both begged her if they could go in.

"Let me see if I have any money." Emily checked her cardigan pocket. She found five pounds and five shillings. _That should be enough_. They headed into the store and found it was crowded with children. Emily bought them each a small bag containing lemon drops, parma violets, and jelly babies. They dropped Maria at her house across the road before heading into their own.

Their house was a modest two storey house with a small garden in the front, consisting mostly of wildflowers, roses, and other various flowers. There also was an Oak Tree with a swing attached to one of the big braches. In the back was a larger garden with flowers and vegetables.

 _Line break_

Luke was sitting at the kitchen table, homework spread out, while watching Emily chop vegetables for the beef stew.

"Are you putting turnips in the stew?" Luke asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Just a tiny bit." Emily admitted.

"I don't like peppers. They're disgusting. " Luke stated emphatically, he pushed aside his math book and opened his language book. They were learning about diagramming this month.

The front door opened and closed. Then, a few minutes later their mother, Sarah Jane, entered the room. Sarah Jane was a widow. Her husband, Harry, had died after being killed in an automobile accident when her oldest son Mark was just three and Emily still a baby. Well-meaning friends and family had pressured Sarah Jane to marry again. They said raising two small children alone was difficult. Though she seemed to be doing just fine on her own.

Sarah Jane removed her hat. Emily then handed her a cup of tea as she sank into a chair. She accepted the cup gratefully.

"Thank you, love." She turned her attention to Luke.

"How was school?" Luke had only been to school for a month, before Sarah Jane had him being tutored at home since he didn't seem to be ready for school. Not the academic part, he was very smart, but living in an orphanage most of his life, he was very _sheltered_. His first week at school had been tough, but he seemed to be settling in. It helped that Maria was there and even though boys and girls were separated in the classroom, during recess they played together and then they ate together at lunch.

"Today was good." He showed her his medal.

Sarah Jane praised him. Emily turned the stove down and turned towards their mother, but she waited until Luke had gathered up his books and papers before she spoke.

"Michael asked me to go to the pictures tonight." Emily tells her. Michael Dennyson was Emily's _special_ guy. They usually went to the pictures or the soda shop.

Luke looked up. " You promised we'd play chess." Emily had been teaching him to play chess and he was getting very good at it. He certainly enjoyed it.

"I'm sorry, how about you and Mum play," Emily suggested. "She's very good, she's the one who taught Mark and me."

Luke still looked upset. It wasn't that he didn't want to play with his mother, it was that he liked playing with Emily; that was their bonding time. Luke hasn't met Mark yet as he was at university and he had been too busy with exams and tests to even come home for the weekend. But he knew he would meet him soon enough.

"How about we have a picnic tomorrow afternoon. " Emily compromised.

Luke thought about it for a few minutes then nodded. "I guess that's all right."

 _ **-Line break-**_

Michael arrived after the dishes were done. He had a box of chocolates for Emily, flowers for Sarah Jane, and a comic book for Luke.

"Hiya, dollface," He gave Emily a kiss on the cheek. "Ready to go?"

Emily grabbed her coat. "Sure come on. Bye Mum, bye Luke."

"Have fun. Make have her home by half past ten." Sarah Jane said. Michael nodded and the two teenagers left the house.

Once they were gone, Luke and Sarah Jane played two games of chess, Luke winning both games, not because Sarah Jane was letting him win as Luke actually came out and asked her because Emily used to do that and he didn't like it. He felt like it was cheating and he wasn't winning fairly, so she stopped.

 _ **-Line break-**_

Meanwhile at the theatre, Michael and Emily couldn't decide what picture to see. Michael wanted to see an action movie while Emily wanted to see a romance. They finally decided after much deliberation they decided to see a comedy.

Afterwards they went to the soda shop for some root beer floats.

"How would you like to go on a picnic?" Michael asked

"When?" She inquired

"Tomorrow afternoon. I know this swell spot." Michael told her.

Emily frowned. "I promised Luke we'd go on a picnic." She told him, trying to think of a solution. "I don't want to break my promise. I mean, couldn't he come with us? Then I wouldn't be breaking my promise."

Michael shook his head. "Listen, doll, nothing against your brother, he's a good kid, but he's just an infant. I don't fancy playing nurse maid to your kid brother."

"I'm not going to break my promise to him. if you don't like it, I don't know what to say." She pushed her chair back and walked outside.

Michael ran after her.

"Aw, come on, _Funny face_ , don't be like that." Michael begged. Emily pursed her lips refusing to look at him. "Gee whiz, all right the kid can come with us. If it means that much to you." Michael gave in.

"Whee!" Emily threw her arms around his neck giving him a kiss.

Michael shook his head, if the other fellows heard about this, they wouldn't let him live it down, imagine taking your girls kid brother along on their date; it was going to be more like a play date now.

 _ **-Line Break-**_

He dropped her off at ten as promised.

She headed into the parlour where Sarah Jane was reading. She looked up when she saw Emily.

"How was your date?" Asked, Sarah Jane.

Emily sat down. "It was wonderful. Tomorrow we're going on a picnic."

Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Em, didn't you promise Luke that you'd take him on a picnic tomorrow?"

"It's all right, Mum, he's coming with us." Emily told her.

"Michael is all right with this?" Sarah Jane asked and Emily nodded.

"He doesn't mind. It was his idea." Emily told her. "I'm going to bed. Is Luke asleep?"

"He might be, but you can check. I suppose you want to tell him about tomorrow. "

"I can tell him tomorrow, I guess." Emily shrugged. She didn't want to wake him if he was asleep, however.

She headed upstairs and saw that Luke was already awake and in her bedroom.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Emily asked and Luke nodded. "How long have you been in here?"

"An hour. I was going to go downstairs and sit with mum, but she got a phone call and she was on the telephone for ages. So I came up here. Was that all right." Luke explained.

"It's fine." Emily assured him, heading into the bathroom to change. She sat at her vanity to curl her hair. "Slight change of plans tomorrow." She then added.

"We are still going, right? You haven't changed your mind?" Luke asked.

"Of course, but we're going with Michael."

"Why?" Luke asked.

"Because he asked me on a picnic and I told him I had already promised you that I already planned a picnic and I wasn't about to break my promise." Emily explained.

Luke was silent for a long time and Emily thought he had fallen asleep until he spoke.

"I don't mind not going. I can go with Maria tomorrow. Her Dad was going to take her to see the new Disney movie and she invited me." Luke told her.

"Are you quite sure?" Emily asked, wanting to make sure it was alright.

Luke nodded. "I don't mind."

Emily slipped in the other side of the bed. "Don't wiggle." She told him.

"I don't wiggle." Luke stuck his tongue out, Emily was about to say something when she felt something hard and soft pressing into her side. she reached down and then smiled at finding Luke's teddy bear.

"This yours." She held up a teddy bear, but Luke was already asleep. She tucked the bear next to him and turned out the lamp.

 **A/N : This takes place in 1938. Mark (who will appear in the next chapter) is seventeen and is portrayed by Brenton Thwaites; he was born in 1921. Emily is fourteen and portrayed by Maia Mitchell; she was born in 1924. Luke and Maria are ten; Maria was born April 1928 and Luke was born September 1928.**

 **Outfits: Emily's first outfit: Green skirt, white blouse grey cardigan, knee socks, and Oxford shoes; Date outfit: Red dress with small white polka dots, white cardigan, nylons, and sandals. Luke: school clothes brown short trousers, sweater, and black socks with black shoes; then pyjamas that are light blue with white stripe down the shirt. Maria: Yellow smocked dress, white socks, yellow ribbons in her pigtails, and Mary Jane shoes.**

 **Also, The Disney movie is "** _ **Snow White**_ **" I am trying to be authentic to the time period with the outfits and speech. World War 2 has not begun yet, but it is on the horizon as is the blitz. If there is anything you would like me to add please leave it in the reviews, however do not leave anything retaining to aliens though. This is not that type of story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own** _ **The Sarah Jane Adventures**_ **. I only own my OCs: Emily, Mark, and Michael. Anything else you may recognize belongs to CBBC & Russell T. Davies.**

There was a strange car parked in the driveway on Friday afternoon when Emily and Luke came home from school. Emily smiled at seeing the familiar car. It was a 1930's Ford, which was a seventeenth birthday present for Mark.

Emily grabbed Luke's hand pulling him up the porch steps.

"Come on." She said barely able to contain her excitement at seeing Mark again and Luke finally being able to meet Mark and vice versa.

Luke was confused, but allowed Emily to pull him into the house and then the kitchen. There was a strange boy sitting at the table, eating a sandwich. However, Luke figured he couldn't have been that strange because Emily gave an excited cry and launched herself at him.

Luke stood there unsure what to do. "Um, hello."

The boy finally noticed Luke and then after looking him over, he turned to Emily, eyebrows raised in a question.

"This is Luke." Emily said, pulling him forward to be introduced to him. However, Mark still looked confused, in which caused Emily rolled her eyes.

"Oh, honestly Mark, did you not read any of mine or mum's letters?" Emily sighed.

"Course I did, but I thought mum adopted a baby." Mark replied as he then turned to Luke. "How old are you? Eight?"

"I'm ten." Luke told him, while trying to make himself appear taller, as four feet was not very tall. Luke was short for his age; sometimes he was mistaken for an eight, or even, seven year old.

Mark stood up and Luke had to tilt his head slightly to look at him.

"You're tall."

"Um, thank you, I guess." Mark replied, awkwardly. "Em, where's mother?"

"Working at the newspaper office. She'll be home by five." Emily told him.

Sarah Jane was an investigative reporter. One of the few women reporters in the Ealing newspaper office.

"When's tea? I'm starving." Mark then asked.

"How can you be starving? You just polished off a sandwich." Emily rolled her eyes.

"That was just a starter." Mark quipped.

While Emily and Mark were talking, Luke slipped out of the room. A few minutes later, Mark came into the front room, where Luke was sitting in the armchair reading, and sat in the other chair.

"So Mum adopted you then?" Mark asked.

Luke nodded and Mark continued. "How long ago?"

"Four months ago." Luke replied

"How about your parents? What happened to them? Did they die or something?" Mark asked. He knew it sounded a bit rude, but he was curious about his new little brother.

Sarah Jane never expressed any desire to have more children. It wasn't as though she didn't like children, she did very much so. But with two children her life, and having to raise them on her own, kept her busy. But of course, he and Emily were not babies or little children anymore; in three or four years, Emily would be either married or attending university.

Emily came into the front room drying her hands on her apron. "Luke go set the table." She told him and watched as Luke slid off the chair and headed into the dining room

Emily turned to Mark. "What's with the Spanish Inquisition?"

"I'm just curious?" Mark replied with a shrug as Emily sat in the chair Luke had just vacated.

"Look, I'll tell you what Mum found out about Luke before she adopted him." Emily told her brother.

Mark made a _Go ahead_ gesture as Emily took a deep breath.

"Both his parents are dead. I guess his father died pretty soon after he was born and his mother died four years later, but here's the horrible thing, no one knew about Luke." She tells him.

Mark interrupted. "How can anyone not a baby exists? They're not exactly quiet. I mean, you weren't, according to mother. "

"I guess she hid her pregnancy. She wasn't married and according to the neighbours mum talked to when they found Luke, they were surprised." Emily explains, recalling what Sarah Jane had told her. "If the neighbours hadn't been bothered by the smell permeating from the flat, they probably would have never found Luke. He had been in a room that was barely bigger than a pantry"

"Go on." Mark urged.

"He was small they thought he was a toddler. One of the ladies took him to the hospital; he was malnourished and sickly. He was there for several weeks and then afterwards he was sent to _St. Agnes Orphanage._ It was the Nuns there, who gave him his name because he couldn't speak. They named the babies something biblical and alphabetical; they were on the "L's" and eventually decided on Luke."

Mark continued to listen.

"He was fostered when he was six." Emily continued.

"What happened?" Mark asked.

"It only lasted a few months. The couple was wealthy and I don't know what happened there. Luke never talks about it." Emily told him, though there wasn't much to tell in regards to that..

The couple had given up on Luke after two months. One woman said he was _'unnatural'_ because he never cried. Even when the nanny scolded him for some infraction. Even when he was denied dinner, scolded, or shaken, Luke never cried. He just stared with those big brown eyes. Once in frustration, the nanny actually slapped him and in retaliation, he bit her; that was the only time he showed the slightest bit of emotion.

Luke was sent back, but not to _St. Agnes_. Instead, he was sent to a different orphanage; _Haydon School for Boys_. This was a desolate place where the older boys bullied the younger boys. Luke was small and made an easy target. The staff more or less ignored the bullying; either you learned to fight or become good at hiding; Luke was very good at hiding.

There was one staff member that was decent. The librarian took an interest in Luke. He taught him to read and Luke was like a sponge soaking up the information. Luke read everything he could get his hands on and in a few months was able to do work intended for a child in year four.

But despite being a near genius, Luke still barely spoke and the teachers thought he was stupid. No one ever knew and no one ever bothered to find out.

Four years later, he was still in the younger boy's dormitory, even though he was already ten and should have been with the older boys. But Luke could easily pass for a younger child as he had barely grown in six years; just a few centimetres.

Sarah Jane had been a doing an article on orphanages; a fluff piece to get more charity that the editor had assigned her. She hadn't planned on even taking Luke home, but there was something about him that was so vulnerable. Sarah Jane came back several times just to see him. Within two weeks, she decided, after talking it over with Emily and writing to Mark, to try to adopt him.

Luke came back into the room. "What are you talking about?"

Emily pulled him onto her lap. She loved that he was small enough to sit on her lap, and unlike most ten year olds, he didn't protest or get embarrassed. It probably was because no one had ever showed him any affection in his earlier years; he was practically starving for it.

"Do you want to help me unpack?" Mark asked, leaning forward.

"All right." Luke slid off Emily's lap following Mark upstairs.

 **A/N: So Luke meets Mark and we learn about Luke's background. Also, thank you GleeJunkie007 for the help and betaing.**

 _ **Please don't forget to review.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sarah Jane Adventures or any of its characters. I only own my OCs Emily, Mark, and Michael and the plotline. Anything else you may recognize belongs to CBBC & Russell T Davies. **

**Betaed by GleeJunkie007**

Emily looked at the list in her hand. "Just a few things left. Are you okay with that?" She indicated the basket Luke was carrying as she reached to take it.

"I'm all right." He said trying not to show how heavy the basket really was. He gripped it tighter and Emily shook her head, taking the basket from him. She knew from experience how heavy the basket got.

Saturday was shopping day. If Sarah Jane wasn't busy she did it, but when she was busy it was Emily's job and it took all morning to do so.

Mark had offered to drive them until Emily pointed out his car only sat two and Luke wanted to come. Luke liked going to do the weekly shopping. Mark thought of a solution having Luke sit on Emily's lap. They were supposed to meet Mark in front of the drugstore at half past one; it was nearly one.

"We need to go to the butchers for ground lamb." Emily checked the list as they then headed over.

"Can I wait for you out here?" Luke asked. He didn't like going to the butchers, especially if his son was there. Artie was the biggest kid in the class and was the class bully; even the teacher seemed scared of him.

Emily hesitated. "I don't know."

"Please Emmy, I won't talk to anyone. I'll just sit on that bench." Luke pleaded.

"All right." Emily relented. "But don't move until I come out."

Luke nodded and sat down on the bench. He watched the people walk past and then suddenly, a shadow fell over him. He looked up staring into the cold steely grey eyes of Artie.

"What are you doing on my bench, dum-dum." He demanded.

"It isn't your bench." Luke said, trying to keep his voice steady he clenched his fists to hide their shaking.

"It's front of my dad's shop so it's my bench." Artie leaned close to him "and I say little dummy babies like you can't sit here, now move before I break your face." He threatened.

Luke shook his head, "No."

Artie hauled his fist back, Luke braced himself for the blow, but it never came. He peeked open his eyes and saw Artie was writhing on the ground holding his nose, with blood spurting from between his fingers.

A dark skinned boy stood over him. "How about you pick on someone your own size."

"You boke by dose! " Artie wailed.

The boy ignored him, turning to Luke. "You okay?" He asked.

Luke nodded numbly. "You punched him."

"I did." He stuck out his hand towards Luke. "Names Clyde Langer. "

"Luke Smith." Luke said unable to tear his eyes away from Artie who was still wailing. Eventually he turned to look at Clyde.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"I don't like bullying." Clyde shrugged "What are you doing out here on your own anyways? A little kid like you shouldn't be on their own. Where's your Mother?"

Luke bristled. "I'm not a little kid, I'm ten nearly eleven." He said.

Clyde looked contrite. "Sorry, mate. I didn't realise."

Luke sighed sinking onto the bench. "It's okay. I'm small, I know. People always think I'm younger than I am and I'm waiting for my sister. " He replied

As if on cue, Emily appeared, Artie slunk off unnoticed nursing his wounded nose.

Emily looked from one boy to the other. She knew Clyde by reputation. He's a couple of years younger, the joker of the school, and rarely takes things seriously; but he was a decent kid.

"Hello, Clyde, I see you've met Luke." Emily said.

Clyde look surprised. "When you said Smith, I thought it was a coincidence. Since when did you have a younger brother?"

Emily shrugged. "Four months ago. See you on Monday."

A few minutes later Emily and Luke were heading towards the drugstore.

"So you met Clyde." She said.

Luke nodded. "Artie was bullying me and he punched him in the nose."

Emily smiled slightly. "Serves him right." They entered the drugstore, spotting Mark at the counter with three ice cream sodas in front of him.

"I ordered chocolate sodas. I hope that was all right?" He was mostly asking Luke since he knew Emily loved chocolate sodas.

Luke had never had a chocolate soda before as he normally got a vanilla shake. He climbed up on the stool pulling the drink towards him. Luke took a sip.

"It's good." He smiled taking a longer sip. He finished in record time, scraping the bottom of the glass for the remaining ice cream. Mark ordered him another one which he finished quickly.

"Can I have another?" He asked spinning on the stool, bouncing slightly.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Um, I think two is enough."

"I think we should head home." Mark said after Emily turned to him.

The three of them headed out to where Mark parked the car.

At home, Luke couldn't sit still. Emily tried to get him started on a puzzle, but he couldn't seem to sit still. Even when he did sit, he wriggled, jumped, and ran to the window, all the while chattering a mile a minute, bombarding Mark with questions about University.

Eventually, Maria came over and dragged Luke over to her house.

Mark sat down, feeling exhausted.

"I thought Luke was quiet," He stated, taking a breath.

"Two chocolate sodas." Emily said, shaking her head. "Mark, what did you expect would happen? Mother and I try to monitor his sweet intake. If he has too much sugar, he can't sit still."

They found this out his second week while they were celebrating his adoption. Sarah Jane had bought a cake from the bakery; a chocolate cake with white frosting, Luke had never had cake before at the orphanage. They only ever had small pieces of sweet bread on birthdays and Christmas. Sarah Jane served him a fairly generous slice, which he ate as if hadn't eaten in weeks. Also, Luke ended up polishing off half of Emily's piece. Neither Sarah Jane nor Emily thought anything of it until later when Luke couldn't sit still.

"Lesson learned." He turned on the wireless.

"I think we're headed for war." He said.

"Will you join up, if we do?" Emily asked.

"I'm old enough." Mark said, Emily bit her lip.

"Have you told mum?" She asked.

"Not yet." Mark admitted.

"Maybe we won't go to war, then it won't matter." Emily said hopefully.

 **A/N: Next, we jump ahead one year to the start of World War 2. Mark has enlisted, rations start, and gas masks are issued.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own the plot and my OCs Emily, Mark, & Michael. Anything else you may recognize belongs to CBBC & Russell T. Davies.**

 **A/N: This chapter marks a time jump of one year.**

 **Beated by GleeJunkie007**

"Have I grown any?" Luke asked as Sarah Jane marked his height on the wall. Sarah Jane smiled to hide the pain, because Luke had barely grown in the year since she adopted him.

"You've grown a bit." Emily who was sitting nearby, said cheerfully.

Luke turned to look at the wall, frowning, as there was barely a centimetre between this year and last year. He was already eleven and still short.

"You'll have a growth spurt soon enough." Sarah Jane said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yes but when?" Luke sighed sulking. He hated being called _shrimp_ and _dwarf_. He hated always being picked last or skipped over during games at school.

"Mark had his at fourteen." Sarah Jane recalled as the doorbell rang.

Emily went to answer it.

"That's three years away." Luke pouted. "Maria says it might be hereditary."

Emily came back into the parlour carrying three medium boxes. She placed them on the small table as Luke walked over.

"What are those?" He asked

"I don't know." Emily opened one of the boxes pulling out an oddly shaped object. It looked like something from a horror movie

"What is it?" Luke and Emily looked at Sarah Jane.

"I expect they're the gas masks. You'll need to carry them with you." Sarah Jane told her children.

Luke opened the other box, pulling out the gas masks and a sheet of paper. "There's instructions on how to clean and take care of them. Why do we need these?"

"In case Hitler decides to do a gas attack." Sarah Jane told him.

It had only been a few months since the war had started, but there were already changes everywhere. It went from the shortage of food to the hushed voices of the adults.

Sarah Jane looked at clock over the mantle. Luke followed her gaze as he knew what that meant, but he wasn't going to say anything hoping she wouldn't mention it. _No such luck_.

"Luke, it is half past ten." Sarah Jane said.

Luke pressed his lips together and Emily hid a smile.

"Good night." Luke grabbed his gas mask before he gave his sister and mother a kiss good night and then headed upstairs. He changed into his pyjamas and then he crept back downstairs settling on the second step out of sight, but within earshot. Emily turned the radio on and the sounds of classical music filled the house.

 _ **-Line break-**_

Monday morning found Luke, Maria, Clyde, and their new friend, Rani Chandra, sitting on a bench on the rugby pitch eating lunch. Rani was the headmaster's daughter; a pretty Indian girl. She became friends with the group on the first day of school.

Maria unwrapped her sandwich and made a disgusted face. "Ugh. Spam" She wrapped it back up and then passed it to Luke. He actually liked spam sandwiches, but he exactly wasn't fond of the peanut butter and jelly he was given.

Rani rolled her eyes. "You two are the oddest kids I have ever seen." She smiled nudging Maria in a friendly manner.

"I know, what we doing this weekend. Daddy got me some new records." She suggested.

"That sounds good. Boys, you in?" Rani looked at Luke and Clyde.

"Sounds good to me." Clyde said. Luke nodded in agreement.

Artie sauntered up to them a self satisfied smirk on his face.

"I know something you don't know." He taunted in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up, Artie. Before I punch you again." Clyde threatened.

"What do you want Artie?" Rani sighed

"It's about him." He pointed to Luke.

"What about Luke?" Maria demanded.

"He's in trouble for cheating. He might get excluded." Artie said gleefully.

"Luke doesn't cheat. Never has. You're just lying. " Rani snapped.

"Well Mr. Carsons' talking to your father, because Luke is the only one who got a perfect score and he says that's impossible unless he cheated." Artie said walking away.

The others turned to Luke. He was pale. He had never been in trouble at school, he was a perfect student. Maria put an arm around him.

"It'll be all right. They'll realize you didn't cheat." She told him.

"Right, just explain to Daddy. He's very reasonable and he knows you're a good student." Rani added.

Emily headed over with Michael in tow. "What's wrong?"

"Luke has just been accused of cheating. " Clyde said.

"You have to be kidding." Emily was stunned.

"Artie was just here. He was the one who told us." Maria said.

"Maybe he was lying." Michael suggested.

"I don't think so. He was too gleeful." Clyde pointed out.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." Emily promised.

 _ **-Line Break-**_

Emily told Mark what had happened and as soon as he got off the phone with her, he asked to speak to Luke. But not before speaking to Sarah Jane, whom had gone down to the school to straighten the situation. Mr. Carson was stubborn insisting that Luke needed to be punished and made an example of until Sarah Jane pointed out there was no evidence and Mr. Chandra agreed with her; though he said Luke would have to take the test again.

"So I heard you were nearly excluded." Mark said.

"It's okay now. Mum took care of it. I just need to retake the test." Luke replied.

"That's good. Listen mate, where are mother and Emily?" Mark asked.

"Getting tea on, why?" Luke asked. The telephone was in the lounge and his mother and sister were in the kitchen.

"I'm going to enlist." Mark told him. "Most of the fellows have already enlisted and I want to do my duty."

"Does Mum or Emily know?" Luke asked.

"Mother doesn't believe in fighting and I've only mentioned it to Emily once." Mark sighed. Luke could picture his older brother running his hands through his hair.

"Tell them you have to." Luke insisted.

"I will." Mark promised "I'm coming home for the weekend, can you keep it a secret until then."

"I'll try." Luke said. "Bye."

He hung up the phone then stared at it for several minutes.

"Is everything all right?" Emily asked. Luke had been so deep in thought he didn't hear her come in, she tapped him on the shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Emily giggled. "It's just me, come on, tea's on."

Michael came over after dinner and the three of them played Monopoly. Sarah Jane made popcorn before going into her study, leaving the three of them alone.

Emily turned to Luke "What did you and Mark talk about?"

"Nothing, he just wanted to know if I was okay." Luke said.

"That's all nothing else?" Emily asked. Luke squirmed slightly busying himself with straightening the game pieces. Emily became suspicious, realizing that Luke was hiding something.

"Luke Smith, you're hiding something. What is it?" Emily demanded to know.

"Nothing." Luke shook his head. He grabbed a magazine without looking at the title.

"How can you tell he's hiding something?" Michael wondered.

"He's terrible at keeping secrets. It's adorable really." Emily told him as she tilted her head. "Lukey, I know you're hiding something. So, you might as well tell me."

The clock chimed the hour ten and even though it was still half an hour before his normal bedtime, Luke jumped up.

"I have to go to bed. Good night." He practically ran upstairs.

"I guess you won't find out." Michael shrugged.

"Oh, I'll find out, trust me." Emily told him. She headed upstairs ten minutes later. "Watch me."

Michael followed her. She pushed open the second bedroom, stepping over a train set and some toy soldiers, books, and papers. Emily approached the bed where a small lump huddled.

"Luke, I know you're not sleeping." Emily stated.

"I am too." Luke said his voice muffled by the covers.

"Then why are we having a conversation?"

"I'm sleep talking." Luke replied.

"Mark told you something." Emily stated lowering the covers until they were staring at each other.

"I'm not supposed to tell." Luke said without thinking.

"Aha! So he did tell you something. Go on tell us. "Emily begged.

"I can't! I promised I wouldn't." Luke pulled the covers over his head refusing to talk, he felt the bed shift as Emily got up.

"All right, good night then." She said. Luke waited until his door closed before lowering the covers

Luke hoped Saturday would come fast. Then Mark would be home and he could tell them he was enlisting.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures or any of its characters. I only own my OCs and the plotline. Anything else you recognize belongs to CBBC & Russell T. Davies. **

**A/N: Anything in italics are part of Mark's letters. This was betaed by GleeJunkie007**

It had been two weeks since Mark had gone off to fight, but to the Smiths it felt longer. Mark was still doing basic training; he hadn't been sent overseas yet.

Saturday they received their first letter. It was long and full of funny anecdotes about basic training, the food, and his fellow soldiers, whom were young, eager to do their part in the war. He had pictures of his family taped to his bunk. They thought Sarah Jane was good looking for her age, Emily was a _doll_ , and Luke looked like a sensible kid.

 **Monday April 12, 1939; the first letter.**

 _The fellows want to take you out on our next leave, Em. I told them you were only fourteen and you already had a fellow. The food here is bad, but at least it's edible unlike Mum's—sorry, Mum, but it's true. The chaps here are curious about Luke, you know they would be because he's a new addition to the family and we have known each other our entire lives. I told them he's my brother and he's extremely smart. They don't believe me, so one of the guys who's a mathematical genius enclosed an equation in here, so Luke, you can try to solve it and I know you can. I need to go now we have to save oil._

The second letter came a few weeks later.

It was an unusually warm spring day, Luke and Maria were on the porch playing marbles, Emily was inside studying, and Sarah Jane was on a story. Luke jumped up when he spotted the mail man down the street and ran down the steps nearly colliding into him.

"Whoa, steady on there, laddie." The carrier said.

"I'm sorry. Have you got a letter?" Luke apologised hastily.

The carrier tipped his hat back. "Sure do, but I suppose there's one in particular you want. " He pulled out the tan envelope of the British Army and Mark's familiar scrawl.

"Thank you." Luke grabbed the letter and ran up the porch steps, bursting into the house.

Maria, used to his excitement, went to get the rest of the mail and then went into to the cool interior of the house, placing the mail on the kitchen table. She then went to the bottom of the stairs.

"Bye Luke!" She called.

Luke appeared at the top of the stairs, "Come back after lunch, okay."

Maria frowned. "I can't, it's Mother's turn to have me and Daddy said she'll be at our house around one." Maria's parents were divorced. Normally the mother would have custody, but she was the one who had left, so she agreed to let Alan have custody of Maria.

"All right. " Luke said, watching her leave, and a few minutes later knocked on Emily's door.

"It's open." Luke opened the door and found Emily laying on her bed, flipping through a movie magazine.

"I think Clark Gable is so dreamy." She sighed dreamily, as she sat up.

"I thought you liked Michael? "Luke wrinkled his nose confused.

"I do, but I can dream. Is something wrong?" Emily asked.

"Mark sent another letter. I don't know if we should wait for Mum?" Luke said.

Emily held out her hand, "I'm sure she won't mind."

Luke handed her the letter and sat down on the bed next to her waiting as she opened the letter

 _They are shipping us out tomorrow, but I cannot say where. All I can say it's somewhere in Europe. Hitler has been rounding up Jews, Poles, and anyone else he deems unfit. The news is getting out there and it's up to the Allied forces to stop him. You remember November 9_ _th_ _"Night of broken glass"? It was in all the papers. I don't want to admit I am a bit apprehensive, not scared mind you, but apprehensive about going into enemy territory. So many things can happen. If anything does happen just know I love you all._

 _P.S: Luke, everyone couldn't believe my eleven year old brother solved a university level math equation. Anyways, here is another equation._

Emily finished reading the letter and they sat there silently until Luke spoke up.

"What does he mean anything can happen?" Luke asked.

Emily shrugged. "I don't know. Anything, I suppose."

"Like being captured or injured or even killed?"

Emily sighed. "Look, you shouldn't worry because Mark will be fine. Why don't you go to Clyde's?"

"I wasn't worried. I was just curious." Luke clarified before leaving.

 **-Line break-**

At dinner, which was a simple meal of boiled vegetables and tinned meat, Sarah Jane had an announcement. Several Jewish children were being evacuated from Germany and Poland because of everything they was going on. Sarah Jane was going to sponsor a little girl a few years younger than Luke and she would be arriving in three days along with hundreds of Jewish children.

"Where's will she sleep?" Luke asked .

"In with Emily. You don't mind, do you?" Sarah Jane asked, turning to her daughter.

Emily shook her head. "That's all right." Sarah Jane nodded.

The talk turned to other matters talk of the war being avoided except for Mark's letter.

 **Historical references  
-Night of Broken Glass: Kristallnacht in German was November 9** **th** **1938\. Pogrom Jewish businesses, synagogues, and homes were destroyed while thousands of men were arrested.  
-Kinder Transport: Between 1938-1940, evacuation of thousands of Jewish children from Germany, Poland and other countries.**


End file.
